


succeeding steps in a single endeavor

by luthien82



Series: Senator Blaine AU [15]
Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Politics, Banter, Established Relationship, Humor, M/M, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-14
Updated: 2012-09-14
Packaged: 2017-11-14 05:17:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/511722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luthien82/pseuds/luthien82
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They've been looking for a new PA for a month now, but none of them were right for Blaine. Maybe the one coming in today has a better chance at success...</p>
            </blockquote>





	succeeding steps in a single endeavor

**Author's Note:**

> I'm afraid this is terribly self-indulgent, and sort of a crossover to boot? People who know my tumblr can probably take a wild guess at what I did here. If you don't and you don't know the fandom, you're good. Really, this works just as well as original character outlines as it does if you know the people I'm mentioning.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: Glee and its characters are the intellectual property of Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and 20th Century Fox. No profit is made, this has been written purely for fun.

* * *

“How is the search going?”

When Blaine posed the question, he didn’t expect Kurt to let out a frustrated sound of rage before he threw his trusted binder full of papers on Blaine’s desk with a resounding snap. “I don’t know what David was thinking when he invited some of these people back for a trial period. I really don’t, because I just want to _slap_ them all!”

Blaine gaped at Kurt, completely surprised by his sudden outburst. He knew that Kurt felt things very deeply and passionately, but he rarely let that passion out, least of all at work. But these new PA prospects seriously seemed to get to him. Blaine put his pen down carefully and gestured with his hand. “Sit down,” he said gently and when Kurt had done so, he wiggled his fingers. Kurt threw a quick glance at the still open door, as if he expected someone to peek in on them. Blaine couldn't help but roll his eyes.

“I'm not going to molest you, I promise,” he said mock seriously. “We had a deal, after all.”

Kurt snorted, but extended his hand so Blaine could grasp it, small smile playing around his lips. They might be having strict rules about affections at the office, but Kurt had loosened up a little about it, ever since they'd decided to move in together and go public as soon as they'd found someone to take Kurt's place. Not that they'd been very successful so far, but a month wasn't that long in terms of searching for someone who had to fill _Kurt's_ shoes.

He had no doubts that Kurt would find the perfect person, mostly because by this point they were both tired of hiding their relationship from everyone. Not that their colleagues weren't suspecting it anyway, especially after it leaked that Kurt was going to leave. But nobody had confirmation, so they kept their mouths shut.

They were good and loyal people, and there wasn't a day where Blaine ever forgot and appreciated that.

“You’ll find the perfect replacement, I’m sure of it,” Blaine said, rubbing his thumb over Kurt’s knuckles to reassure him.

Kurt blew out his breath in a huff and stared at the ceiling for a moment, but when his gaze wandered back down to their entwined hands, the smile was back in an instant. Blaine squeezed said hand, then asked, “So when’s the next prospect coming in to test work for you?”

Kurt frowned, not looking up. If Blaine didn’t know better, he’d say Kurt was _pouting_. “At two. She’ll stay for a couple of hours and I’ll walk her through a normal day, let her answer a few calls to see how she deals with that.”

Blaine nodded, then raised their hands to press a quick kiss to the back of Kurt’s hand. “You’ll know it when they’re right.”

Finally, Kurt raised his eyes to meet Blaine’s, and the small smile turned into something warm and intimate. “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely,” Blaine said confidently. “I knew that you were the one from the moment I met you.”

Kurt bit his lip, his cheeks growing pink. Blaine was delighted how much a few simple words could still unsettle Kurt in the best ways. He grinned outright, pressed another kiss to Kurt’s hand and then let go. “Much as I’d like to shower you with more words of affection, I really have to get this done.”

Kurt raised an eyebrow at him, but stood up all the same and reached for his binder. As soon as he opened it, Blaine groaned and let his head fall down on the desktop. “Go away with your binder full of crap I don't want to deal with,” he whined.

“Don’t complain, you have to get these done by tonight,” Kurt said, standing his ground. “Look at it this way: after you’ve signed off on these you won’t ever have to deal with this asshole again.”

Blaine snorted, but raised his head and looked up at Kurt. “Promise?”

Kurt smirked. “Let me put it this way: if you ever voluntarily deal with this homophobic prick again when we share house and home? You’ll have to sleep on the couch.”

Blaine winced at the thought alone, but conceded the point. “Deal. I’d rather get my money for the orphan fund elsewhere anyway.”

“That’s what I thought,” Kurt said, nodding. “But I guess his money is as good as anyone’s in a pinch. Shame that Colonel Harper had that stroke before you could finalize the deal.”

“I know,” Blaine replied, suddenly feeling gloomy. Colonel Harper had been a very passionate spokesperson for orphans and a firm believer in raising the funding of the foster care system. He'd been delighted when Blaine asked him if he wanted to sponsor an organization for orphans of war veterans. Alas, he'd suffered a stroke before they could get anything on paper, but lucky for them, some co-exec had taken notice of the organization and wanted to chip in instead. Turned out he was homophobic as hell and threw thinly veiled slurs in Blaine's direction at every turn. Blaine had just gritted his teeth and endured it, keeping in mind that the money would help a lot of kids.

He sighed gustily, then smiled lopsidedly up at Kurt. “I’ll have them ready in time. Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

Kurt turned to go back out, but Blaine stopped him at the last second asking, “Let me know how it goes?”

Kurt seemed confused for a moment, then remembered their conversation and rolled his eyes. “You’ll be the first to know,” he said and, with a last parting smirk, closed the door behind himself. Blaine grinned at the wood even though Kurt couldn’t see him, then looked at the stack of papers still in front of him. Another sigh came from deep within his chest before he grabbed his pen and went back to work.

* * *

It was almost 3:30pm when Blaine signed the last of the documents for the money transaction and thought it was probably a nice gesture to personally bring the folder containing them out to Kurt. If he happened to sneak a glance at his possible new PA, all the better.

He opened the door to his office and looked outside, hoping that he wouldn’t be sent back inside right away. But he was in luck; Kurt was too preoccupied to realize Blaine had appeared. He decided to take advantage of that, leaned a shoulder against the doorjamb and eyed up the candidate.

She was a small thing, yet radiated a strength that Blaine wouldn’t have expected from someone who looked like a gust of wind could blow her over. And dear god, she was pretty. Not that she was clad exceptionally sexy or anything, quite the opposite. She was clad in a sombre, professional charcoal colored business suit with a white blouse, paired with flat shoes and a bright red silk scarf draped around her neck. Her blond hair was pulled back in a strict chignon, revealing high cheekbones and pulling attention to her button nose. Her face, what Blaine could see of it, was devoid of makeup except for the bare essentials. No, she wasn't done up to be sexy. She just _was_ by nature. If anything, she'd tried to tone it down.

She was sitting in Kurt’s chair while he was pointing out something on his computer to her. She nodded along and asked a quiet question about scheduling conflicts. Judging by Kurt’s pleased face, it wasn’t a stupid question and he pointed at something else on the screen while he answered her in a low tone.

Blaine wasn’t sure yet, but it seemed like this one wasn’t quite as bad as the ones before her. At least Kurt didn’t look like he wanted to kill her.

The phone rang, a small window popping up on Kurt’s screen. He could see the moment Kurt read the name of the caller, because his shoulders stiffened. But then he threw the young woman a considering glance and said, “Why don’t you take this call? Remember what we talked about before, the senator is currently unavailable. It’s just Senator Warren, you’ll be fine.”

 _That_ was a blatant lie. Kurt _hated_ Senator Warren, and Blaine couldn’t blame him. The pompous ass was a nightmare to work for and was without a PA half the time because they quit on him within two weeks. He’d been rude to Kurt from the very first phone call, and Kurt had played cat-and-mouse with him ever since, taking great pleasure in making Senator Warren’s life as hard as possible when it came to audiences with Blaine. Blaine leaned back, crossed his arms over his chest and settled in for the show.

Kurt pulled out a headset and put it on so he would be able to listen in on the call, then nodded at the young woman to pick up the phone. She did so with barely a moment of hesitation. “Senator Anderson’s office, you are speaking to-”

She cut herself off when the caller obviously interrupted her. Kurt’s eyebrows shot up and he looked down at the woman whose shoulders had stiffened up immediately. “Excuse me?” she said, her melodious voice suddenly icy and very, very frightening. Kurt’s eyebrows climbed even higher.

Blaine suspected that Warren himself was on the phone, if Kurt’s stormy face was anything to go by. He looked like he was this close to pulling the receiver out of the woman’s hand and ripping the senator a new one. But before he could do that, she straightened even further in her seat and said with false cheer in her voice, “Let me see if he is available.”

She threw a dirty look at Kurt while punching the hold button, then pointedly inspected her nails. She tapped her foot on the floor for maybe ten seconds before she put Warren back on the phone and said in the same tone, “I’m sorry, but Senator Anderson is currently unavailable. Can I take a message?”

Blaine swallowed a snort, but Kurt must’ve heard him anyway, because his gaze snapped up and locked in on him, and they both smiled at each other almost instantly. The young woman was still listening to Warren on the phone, her face turning darker by the second, but her voice was eerily calm when she said, “Insulting me won’t get you into Senator Anderson’s office any faster, sir.”

Kurt bit down on his lip all of a sudden, and Blaine had a fleeting moment where he asked himself what Warren had said _now_ , when the young woman said, “No, I’m afraid _Mr. Hummel_ is currently unavailable too. I repeat, can I take a message, for either of the gentlemen?”

There was a significant pause in which Kurt hid his mouth behind his hand but his eyes betrayed his amusement. They were shining so bright that even Blaine was amused, even though he only caught half of the conversation. Then the young woman seemed to have enough of this bullshit and cut in, “Sir, we can argue about the availability of either gentleman until you’re blue in the face, but for the moment you have to deal with me. Now, if you don’t want to leave a message, would you rather want to make an appointment with the senator?”

Kurt’s face was priceless at her rebuttal, but Blaine didn’t need to hear more to know what this all meant. Warren was one of the worst things you had to deal with in this office, and if you managed to impress Kurt that his whole face lit up like a Christmas tree, you were pretty much hired.

The young woman sealed the deal when she pretended to flip through Blaine’s calendar and said in that fake cheerful voice, “No, I’m afraid the senator is completely booked today.” Blaine was pretty sure that he had an open block of about two hours after four. He couldn't help but grin at that.

She paused, then said, “I’m afraid tomorrow doesn’t look good either. Or the day after that. How about next month? I’m sure we can squeeze you in for five minutes.”

Kurt had heard enough. He ripped the headset off, buried his face in his hands and shook with suppressed laughter. The young woman threw him a quick glance, but otherwise didn’t react, just finished up the phone call and then hung up with a cheerful, “Have a good day!”

That was too much. Kurt - dignified, poised, _impeccable_ Kurt - almost collapsed with giggles. The young woman wasn't lost for words though. She threw Kurt another dirty look and accused, “You did that on purpose, didn't you?”

Kurt couldn't do more than nod and grin at her. It took him an astonishing amount of time to compose himself again, and when he finally did, he gave her a long, penetrative stare before he said, “I'm sorry, but _that_? Was pure _art_ , my dear.”

Blaine took that as his cue to make his presence known by asking, “So we found one?”

Kurt looked over at him at the same time the young woman jumped out of her seat, straightening her clothes and looking at him with a nervous smile. Kurt smiled fondly at her from behind and then, catching Blaine’s gaze over her shoulder, nodded. “Yes, we found one.”

Blaine grinned at him before gesturing at the young woman to step forward. “In that case, would you come into my office please, Miss?”

She looked a little startled, her gaze going back to Kurt. “I’m just here to work on a trial basis for a couple of hours...” She trailed off, unsure when she caught Kurt’s encouraging nod towards Blaine’s office door.

“Go on, this is part of the process,” he said, waving at Blaine who raised his eyebrow in return. Kurt just gave him a sunny smile.

The young woman looked from one to the next, then bit down on an involuntary smile when she seemed to come to some sort of realization. Blaine could take a wild guess on what that was, considering that him and Kurt weren't exactly subtle right now. In any case, she straightened her shoulders and walked over to Blaine without hesitation.

“Excellent,” he said, leaning around her to hold out the folder for Kurt, who didn’t even lose a moment to come over and grab it. “Let’s have ourselves a little talk.”

* * *

She was nervous when she sank down into the chair in front of his desk, and Blaine smiled encouragingly at her while he sat back down in his own seat. Stroking down his tie, he said, “I’m sorry, but we haven’t been properly introduced yet. I’m Blaine.”

She looked like she wanted to object for a second, but then she relaxed back into her seat and replied, “Laura.”

“Hello, Laura. It’s nice to meet you.”

She smiled. “Thank you. It’s such an honor to meet you, sir.”

He waved her off. “None of that, now. Trust me, when you come and work for me you’re going to be a lot less impressed with me pretty quickly.”

She gaped at him for a second, then cleared her throat and rubbed her wrist. “I’m sorry, but... did you just say _when_ I come and work for you?”

Blaine frowned a little, all of a sudden very intrigued. He was pretty sure that David had weeded out the less than suitable candidates before he ever asked the remaining ones to come work on a trial basis for a few hours with Kurt. Still, all of them had to have been confident in their abilities to do the job, and finding someone who seemed surprised to be one of the top runners in becoming Blaine’s new PA naturally made him curious. So he put his elbow on the desk and propped his chin on his hand, cocking his head.

“You seem surprised,” was all he said after a long moment of silence. “Isn’t that what you’re here for?”

“Well...” she said, then trailed off, looking a little lost. After a moment she rubbed her neck and admitted, “I’m 22 and fresh out of college. I don’t really have references, so I kind of figured I wouldn’t even get this far, to be honest.”

 _That_ surprised Blaine. He sat up straight and blurted out, “Then how the hell did you learn to handle people like Warren?”

The sudden smile that appeared on her face was a mix of pure joy, warmth, love and exasperation, and her tone wasn’t much different when she said, “Family business. I’ve had to deal with worse crap since I was sixteen.” She slapped a hand over her mouth suddenly, then turned bright red. “Oh my god, I just said _crap_ in front of you. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to swear!”

Blaine couldn’t help his own smile at her panicking. It was really rather endearing. So he just waved his hand and replied, “It’s okay. You’ll probably say and hear worse things in this line of work, don’t worry.”

Her hand dropped back into her lap, but she seemed a little more settled now, the shy smile back.

Blaine leaned back in his seat. “So what kind of family business is it that you worked in?”

“Reconstruction,” she answered promptly. “We kind of fell into it when I was still in middle school, right after we'd reconstructed the family estate by ourselves and people kept asking us for advice. We’re a big family and everyone has different talents, but they consist mostly of hotheads. I'm the most reasonable one after my dad, so I sort of inherited the negotiator part as soon as I was old enough and they let me.”

“So you wanted to work for them?”

“God, yes,” she said, rolling her eyes fondly. “My dad would’ve killed them if I hadn’t come and helped him out. They’re all such stubborn idiots. And the contractors can be vicious as hell, too.”

Blaine couldn’t help but grin again. “That certainly explains your savvy handling of Senator Warren.”

Laura smirked. “Honestly? He was _nothing_ against my dad in a bitch fit. He _invented_ them, really.”

Blaine’s brows furrowed in confusion. “A level headed man invented the bitch fits? That seems kind of counter productive.”

She blushed a little, kneading her hands nervously in her lap before she admitted, “No, my... my other dad. I... I have two dads.”

Blaine felt his face soften immediately at her words, and it only got worse when she added a hurried, “They’re dad and papa, actually, but I tend to call them both ‘dad’ in conversations with other people. I... I never know how people react to the news that I grew up with two dads, but of course I never should've worried about _you_ and I'm sorry that I...”

She trailed off, beet red in the face out of sheer embarrassment. “So _papa_ is the one with the epic bitch fits?” Blaine asked to calm her down again and assure her that she didn't offend him or anything of the sort.

It worked; she relaxed immediately and smiled at him. “Yes. He’s really the nicest man on earth but he tends to sulk. Not that he ever calls it that, but me and dad are on to him.”

Blaine chuckled with her at that, trying to picture the two men who had fathered someone like her. His curiosity won out and he asked, “Is one of them your biological father?” As soon as the question had left his mouth, he waved his hands and added, “Oh god, that was terribly rude and intrusive. Forget I asked, it’s none of my business and certainly doesn't belong into a job interview.”

“No, no, it’s okay,” she hurried to assure him. “I don’t mind you asking. Hell, if it weren’t for you, their marriage wouldn’t even be legally acknowledged in every state. So as far as I’m concerned, you can ask whatever the hell you want.”

She paused then, maybe to wait for Blaine to say something, but he didn’t know what to say to a revelation like that. It always humbled him how many people loved him for making marriage equality a federal law, especially when he came face to face with other people’s happiness that were a direct result of his tireless work. He was glad, of course, and ecstatic for them, but in the end he didn't really have that much to do with their happiness. They'd found and loved each other long before Blaine and his marriage equality ever came along, after all.

When she realized he wouldn’t comment on her statement, she bit her lip and continued quietly, “My family... my _birth_ family... they died when I was ten. There was nobody to take me in, so I went from group home to group home for a year until I ran away one day.”

She looked down at her lap where she was kneading her hands again, nervous energy almost visible in the space around her. But there was a private little smile on her face when she said, “Papa... he worked as a park ranger. He still does, says he doesn't have a head for contractors and clients. Dad jokes that papa would rather commute with nature than talk voluntarily to a human being, and that he has to have been a lone wolf in a previous life.” Her smile grew at the memory and Blaine was helpless not to smile right along with her, even though he knew neither of these people.

“Anyway,” she said, shaking herself out of the fond memory, “he found me in the woods. I'd been gone for a day at that point and I was tired and stubborn and not very nice to him, but he still took me home. Fed me a strawberry jam sandwich and a glass of milk and talked to me like I was an adult. He didn't even seem to care that I'd hurled insults at his head an hour before. He was so nice to me and took all my answers seriously. I felt like I _mattered_ for the first time ever since my birth parents had died. I never wanted to leave. But then he called social services. God, I hated him for that, but it was his duty. He couldn't have done anything else without getting into horrible trouble with the law.”

Laura's gaze snapped back up to Blaine's and her smile was sheepish now. “The social worker was a nice young woman who'd known my history and was sympathetic to my plight. She asked me... she was the first person to ever ask me what _I_ wanted. And I looked at papa – he wasn't papa yet back then, but I looked at him and I knew, I just _knew_ that I'd always be safe with him. So I told her I wanted to stay with him.”

She laughed, then. “What I didn't know at the time was that papa and dad had tried to adopt for two years but the state was a little hesitant to give them a foster kid, because they were both men. But the social worker just... did it, I guess. And I could stay. Papa and dad didn’t even ask questions, just welcomed me into their family and their hearts and... they just loved me without any conditions, right from the very first day. They fought so hard with the state because they wanted to be my legal parents _so much_ , I could almost feel it physically. I’d never felt such an instant connection to anyone.”

She took a deep breath to compose herself, then ended with a small smile, “They were finally allowed to adopt me legally about a year and a half after they'd taken me in. It was the best day in all our lives.”

Blaine knew his eyes had grown a little misty, but despite that he grinned at Laura and the pure joy and love she was transmitting. She smiled back at him and added, “The authorities didn't have much of an excuse anymore to deny my parents an adoption after seeing that they were more than capable of taking care of a kid. And I was very eager and very vocal about wanting to stay with them. Luckily my grandpa was the local sheriff so he pulled some strings that hurried up the process.”

“Where are you from?” Blaine asked, fascinated by all these little tidbits of information that painted a picture of a loving and kind hearted home.

“A small town in California. You’ve probably never heard of it. I moved away to Boston for college.”

“And your parents let you go?”

Laura nodded. “They knew this was my dream. My papa, he taught me to always follow my heart. They would never hold me back if I wanted to pursue that.”

Blaine’s smile turned a little wobbly. “They sound like remarkable people.”

“They are,” she replied instantly, her smile so bright and full of love for her dads that it took Blaine’s breath away.

Blaine’s mind was made up, and it helped immensely that Kurt had taken a shine to her as well. This person, this young woman fresh out of college, was exactly what they needed. He was certain that David had made sure she had the necessary qualifications. Kurt and Blaine had made sure that she had the personal skills needed to ensure an easy and mutually beneficial working relationship. She was, simply put, absolutely perfect for the position. “So they won’t object to a thorough background check and only seeing you maybe twice a year then?” Blaine joked, just to make sure she understood that this was going to become real for her.

She seemed to understand that, because her breath hitched in her throat, then she replied with a tremor under the joking tone, “They better not, or I’ll sic my Aunt Erica on them.”

Blaine couldn’t help but laugh out loud at that. He stood up, with Laura following suit. Extending his hand for her to shake, he said, “Well, for what it's worth, I’m afraid your dream is about to come true, Laura...”

He cut himself off, rubbing his brow sheepishly. “Oh god, here we are, talking and talking, and I never asked you for your full name.”

“No worries,” she said immediately, shaking his hand. “It’s Hale. Laura Hale.”

Blaine smiled back. “Well, Laura Hale. Welcome to Washington. I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into.”


End file.
